Author: Kaluka wanjala

Tecno has finally announced that its latest flagship smartphone, the Tecno Phantom 9, is available in retail stores in Kenya. The phone was to be launched in the country over a month ago but due to unforeseen circumstances, that was not the case. If you have been waiting for this phone, the wait is finally over as you can get it in the country for Ksh 25,000. The phone is available through Tecno branded shops, Safaricom outlets and online through Jumia. The is the first phantom smartphone in two years as the company did not release one last year. At…

HMD Global has unveiled a list of 17 Nokia smartphones that are scheduled to receive Android 10 by Q2 of 2020. This does not come as a surprise as HMD is one of the few manufacturers that has committed to rolling out the latest Android updates for most of its smartphones. After Google announced that the next version of Android will be dropping the dessert name and go by Android 10, HMD Global announced that it will be updating 17 smartphones with this new variant within a span of nine months. At this point, HMD Global is the only manufacturer…

About two weeks ago, Huawei announced its in-house operating system, HarmonyOS. The company said that this operating system (OS) is not just meant for smartphones as it will be used on other smart devices and even on vehicles. With the unveiling of this new OS, the speculation was that the company was going to unveil smartphones powered by HarmonyOS as early as this year. Most people were expecting to see the OS on the company’s upcoming flagship, the Huawei Mate 30. Rumors were that the company would unveil a standard Mate 30 running Android and a special version running HarmonyOS.…

With the release of a new version of Android, we normally get to see what dessert name Google picks for it. The current publicly available version, Android 9 is also known as Android Pie. This naming system has been around from the beginning but Google is changing that with the next version of Android. Google announced yesterday that the next version of Android will be referred to as Android 10, no more sweet desserts after that. According to Google, the change in the naming system is to ensure they are accessible across different markets as previously not everyone was familiar…

With the rise in demand for instant loans, the companies involved have to make sure they have the capacity to meet the demand at all times. With that, they have to make sure they have enough capital to meet the demands of their customers every single day. Tala, one of the mobile lending companies operating in Kenya, has announced that it has raised $ 100 Million series D investment. With the new investment, the company will be able to launch new products within its ecosystem. This news comes less than a month after Branch, its competitor, announced that it had…

If you are one of the few people who use YouTube’s messaging feature, you need to find another alternative as that service will be discontinued next month. You should not be using YouTube messaging in the first place but there are people who do and it looks like they are not that many and that’s probably the reason why Google is axing it. If you try accessing the messages section of the YouTube app, you will see the notification informing you that it won’t be available after September 18. Google has not given a clear reason as to why this…

WhatsApp has been evolving and still is with some major changes expected this year. Some of the changes affect the key components of the app but others will not affect how we use the app in any way. We will notice some of these changes but there are some that will be added without us realizing. Name Change Some adjustments are expected in the name but nothing serious that will leave the app unrecognizable. According to Blomberg, the messaging service will be adding “From Facebook” to its name to become, WhatsApp From Facebook. At a time when most apps are…

Earlier today, Xiaomi announced the Inter-Transfer Alliance group through which it has joined forces with Oppo and Vivo to launch an AirDrop-like service for Android. This is a peer-to-peer file transfer service that uses Bluetooth and will support multiple file formats. This platform is still in open beta and when rolled out, it will make it easier for users of different smartphones from different manufacturers to share photos and documents with each other. According to Xiaomi, this protocol can deliver transfer speeds of up to 20MB/s. No third-party app will be required to achieve this and the speeds are impressive.…

We have decided to start a new series that recaps the top stories of the week here on TechArena. I will be highlighting the top 5 popular stories for that week or just stories that you should know about. Let’s get to the top stories for this week. Vivo Y15 Goes on Sale in Kenya Earlier this week, Vivo announced that its phones are officially available in Kenya. The first phone the company has is the Vivo Y15 that is available in the country for Ksh 22,000. This is not cheap and puts it in direct competition with the Samsung…

SWVL is one of the two main app-based mass transit services in Nairobi. The other one is Little Shuttle which falls under Little, the taxi-hailing service. With both services, you can book a scheduled shuttle in Nairobi and its immediate environs. The one big drawback with either of the two services is that they charge the same amount for all passengers. This is not really fair for those who may alight before getting to the shuttle’s final destination, they are still required to pay the same amount as those going all the way to the end. SWVL is exploring ways…